82 Healthier Versions of Your Favorite Comforting Casseroles

These healthy casseroles supply all the comfort and heartiness of classic recipes, but they contain a fraction of the calories and fat. From comforting tettrazini to cheesy spaghetti pie to veggie lasagna, our ultimate collection of crave-worthy casseroles has the perfect recipe for every occasion.

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Healthier Versions of Your Favorite Comforting Casseroles

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Healthy Casserole Recipes

Few meals satisfy like a hearty casserole. Whether you're hosting a friendly gathering or serving a weeknight family dinner, one of these casseroles is sure to be just right for the occasion. The best part? Many of these recipes are great make-ahead options. Batch cook before a busy week, or freeze one to keep on on hand for unexpected guests.

First up, you'll want to add this flavor-packed chicken tetrazzini to your weeknight rotation. If you’d like to make this comforting classic baked pasta dish ahead of time, you can freeze the unbaked casserole up to three months. Let it thaw completely; top with Parmesan and panko, then bake at 350°F until browned and bubbly, about 45 minutes.

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Broccoli-Artichoke Casserole

Nothing says autumn like a hearty casserole—something you can make on a weekend afternoon, and have for leftovers over the next couple days. Here, rich Gruyere cheese marries with the bright acid of a dry white wine (try a Sauvignon Blanc) to bring a touch of elegance to this yummy comfort food.

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Tuna Noodle Casserole

A comfort-filled classic, the traditional dish features a cast of hefty characters—cream, cheese, and noodles—and delivers nearly 700 calories and a day’s worth of sat fat with just one helping. Canned tuna is a pantry staple that takes center stage in our remake (with just as many beneficial omega-3s as fresh). In lieu of a breadcrumb or potato chip topper, we use fresh dill and sharp cheddar to round out this dinner with bright flavor and cheesy goodness for less sodium.

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Breakfast Hot Dish

If you're not from the Upper Midwest, you may not be familiar with hot dish. Traditionally, it's a casserole of starch (often French fries or tots), meat, and vegetables held together by a creamy sauce. "It's an easy way to feed a crowd," says blogger and cookbook author Molly Yeh, "and it's perfect for the dead of winter because it's so hearty and warm and comforting." Her update uses sweet potatoes flavored with Aleppo pepper. To get a head start, you can roast the potatoes and brown the sausage a couple of days ahead.

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Creamy Chicken-and-Wild Rice Casserole

Wild rice is wonderfully fragrant; it’s the perfect counter to the creamy, earthy mushroom mixture and has enough texture that the grains won’t bloat or fall apart in the casserole. Serve with simply sautéed green beans or a mixed greens salad.

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Buttermilk Potato, Chicken, and Cheddar Casserole

In this cheesy chicken casserole, leftover mashed potatoes form the base, rather than the topping, as they do in shepherd's pie. Poaching bone-in chicken breasts in stock yields tender, juicy meat—use this method for enchiladas and chicken salad. We love the texture and concentrated flavor of dried minced onion as the casserole topper, but you could skip it or substitute toasted, coarsely ground breadcrumbs.

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Skillet Vegetable Lasagna

The best part of this vegetable lasagna—aside from the flavor—is the low-cleanup: Vegetables take turns cooking in a single cast iron skillet, not several. A stovetop simmer quickly cooks the noodles through, so there's no need for a separate pot to boil them. Then the pan shifts easily to the oven for a last-minute broil to melt and meld the cheeses. Perfection!

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Lower-Sugar Sweet Potato Casserole

The classic sweet potato casserole often straddles the line between side and dessert (indeed, we've enjoyed the leftovers both ways). Our delicious version has 5 fewer teaspoons (20g) of added sugar per serving than traditional recipes.

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Chicken Enchilada Casserole

These enchiladas are a cinch to assemble and easy to freeze—just cover one of the pans with foil. If you plan to serve a crowd, bake in one (13 × 9-inch) baking dish. The chicken stays moist throughout baking and reheating, thanks to a gentle poach and a creamy verde sauce. Fresh cilantro stems have tons of favor; make sure to include them in the sauce.

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Cheesy Polenta Skillet

Thanks to its firm consistency, precooked polenta (usually sold in tube form) can be seared, toasted, or even layered and baked like a lasagna. We keep the slices on the thick side so they have a creamy texture when heated through. A little ground turkey goes a long way in this dish; stir the rest into chili, make burger patties, or use as a filling for lettuce cups. In addition to mushrooms, this dish is a great canvas for any vegetables you have on hand, such as sliced greens or chopped cauliflower or broccoli.

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Double Berry Cream Cheese French Toast Casserole

Rise and shine to a thoroughly red, white, and blue breakfast. This lower-sugar recipe is a great way to use up slightly hard baguette and any berries you have roaming around your produce drawer. You don't have to let it sit overnight, but a few hours in the fridge will only make the casserole creamier.

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Sausage and Spinach Spaghetti Pie

Meet your new favorite casserole recipe. This budget-friendly dish (costing under $10) allows you to stretch a small amount of meat over several servings. It's family friendly, filling, and loaded with flavor--the perfect weeknight meal. The high heat on this recipe allows it to cook quickly, crisping the spaghetti slightly on the outside to make the perfect "pie crust" for this dish. You can use crumbled sausage in this dish, or start with Italian sausage and remove the casing, which is what the recipe calls for. Remove the casing by cutting up the side with a knife or kitchen shears, then crumble the sausage using a spoon in the skillet as it cooks.

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Smoked Salmon Breakfast Casserole

This multilayered marvel is loaded with crispy potatoes, hot-smoked salmon, and a smattering of fresh herbs. Cottage cheese naturally melds into the eggs, creating pillowy lightness throughout the mixture, while goat cheese creates dense pockets of creaminess. Hot-smoked salmon, unlike cured, is fully cooked—look for it in the fish case or packaged in the meat aisle of your grocery store.

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Eggplant Parmesan

This perfect version of a classic Italian meatless dinner, Parmigiana, will quickly become a family favorite. Add a glass of vino for a Sicilian-style date night or a scoop of gelato for a kid-friendly Italian night.

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Baked Pasta with Spinach, Lemon, and Cheese

This casserole makes use of casarecce pasta—a short noodle with a curled edge that provides a large groove to hold the creamy sauce. If you can't find it, use fusilli, campanelle, or radiatore. Use a large, deep pot for the pasta so the spinach will fit inside, as well.

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Cheesy Sausage, Broccoli, and Quinoa Casserole

We traded white rice for whole-grain quinoa and kicked out any processed ingredients for a new take on this comfort classic. To add more flavor to quinoa, try toasting it. Serve with a simple green salad. You can freeze an extra pan of this whole-grain main for kid-friendly comfort or make it ahead of time for a busy weeknight.

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Baked Ziti and Summer Veggies

Add pops of color to baked ziti with fresh summer veggies like squash, zucchini, and tomato. This quick and versatile baked pasta can be easily adjusted based on your favorite veggies or what you have on hand.

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Mashed Potato Casserole

The combination of buttery Yukon gold and fluffy baking potatoes offers richness and a nice contrast in flavor and texture. We recommend using a food mill to ensure the potatoes are evenly mashed and not overworked, so they won't get gluey. If you don't have a food mill, cream the potatoes and cooking liquid with a potato masher.

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Overnight Streusel-Topped French Toast Casserole

Since there’s no chopping involved, this is a great recipe for recruiting your kids to help out—there are lots of opportunities for stirring, and even a chance to use their hands to crumble together the streusel topping. Thin out the glaze with a little extra milk and spoon it over for a casual presentation, or put it in a Ziploc, snip off the corner, and let the kids drizzle their own special designs.

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Wild Mushroom Pastitsio

This meatless version of pastitsio swaps ground beef for wild mushrooms but keeps the creamy, cheesy goodness of the classic dish. Entertaining? Serve alongside Swiss Chard with Crème Fraîche and an earthy pinot noir.

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Creamy, Light Macaroni and Cheese

Instead of the traditional buttery, heavy sauce present in most mac and cheese recipes, we turned to an unlikely hero for a boost: Butternut squash. Combined with nonfat milk and Greek yogurt, the squash adds a rich, nutty flavor, sneaks in some vegetable, and brilliantly mimics the color and creaminess of cheddar sauce. Over 65 5-star reviews agree: Butternut squash is a delicious addition.

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Fast Shepherd's Pie

Senior Food Editor Julianna Grimes advises, “Buy lamb loin chops, and have the butcher remove the meat from the bones in the store.” The lean, tender meat cooks quickly, and it’ll stay moist in this speedy take on a comfort classic.

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Mexican Chicken Casserole with Charred Tomato Salsa

Instead of the usual jarred salsa often called for in Mexican casserole, this recipe features a homemade salsa made with charred tomatoes that are mixed with cilantro and fresh lime juice. Charring the tomatoes gives a rich flavor to the salsa, which is a good match for this chicken-and-veggie-packed dish.

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Vegetarian Moussaka

In this meatless version of the classic Greek dish, bulgur wheat stands in for ground meat in a spiced tomato filling surrounded by eggplant layers and topped with a béchamel sauce. The eggplant and bulgur pack this dish with fiber. Garnish with chopped fresh parsley.

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Cheesy Brown Rice Gratin with Zucchini and Eggplant

The walnuts in this gratin offer a crunchy contrast to the roasted vegetables and cheesy rice mixture, while the splash of half-and-half adds creamy richness. The rice mixture can be made ahead and refrigerated. When ready to prepare, bring to room temperature, spoon into the baking dish, and proceed as directed at the end of step 5.

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Mushroom Lasagna

Rich porcini broth and nutty Parmigiano-Reggiano add deep umami taste to this vegetarian lasagna. Plain white button mushrooms will work in place of cremini. Serve with a simple green salad for a satisfying meal.

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Tex-Mex Hash Brown Casserole

This simple skillet dish uses shredded potatoes as a base. The potato mixture cooks on the stove top first to get it browned and crisp on the bottom. Use a cast-iron skillet to get the potatoes perfectly crusted on the bottom, then bake them with smoky chorizo under a blanket of gooey cheese.

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Berry-and-Walnut French Toast Casserole

This overnight casserole saves you the trouble of standing over a griddle flipping individual slices of French toast. If using a fresh baguette, cut it up the day before, and let it sit in the bag overnight to become slightly stale—that'll help prevent sogginess when the casserole is baked.

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Sausage and Cheese Breakfast Casserole

Pop a prepared casserole in the oven and let it bake while you sip coffee—that’s the way to wake up on a lazy Sunday. Seems like every family has a beloved version of this type of breakfast strata. This one is much lower in fat than most.

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Vegetable Lasagna

Lots of colorful, delicious baby veggies between pasta layers reduce the typical mounds of cheese. Our white sauce is based on fat-free broth, and we add just a bit of cream and an egg to give it a silky texture. We sprinkled the Parm within the layers to supplement the fontina that's used to give a crunchy-cheesy crust on top.

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Smoky Three-Bean Bake

Three kinds of beans take the classic dish from ho-hum to fun, with different shapes and pleasing textures—from the al dente bite of chickpeas to the creaminess of Great Northern beans. If you happen to use hot smoked paprika, you can omit the ground red pepper.